Apple completes transition to Intel chips

Published 1:59 pm, Monday, August 7, 2006

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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Apple CEo Steve Jobs introduces the new Mac operating system at the company's Worldwide Developers conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco on August 7, 2006. Liz Mangelsdorf /The Chronicle less

apple08_lm002.JPG
Apple CEo Steve Jobs introduces the new Mac operating system at the company's Worldwide Developers conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco on August 7, 2006. Liz Mangelsdorf /The ... more

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces new features in the iChat program (including using Photo Booth with video conferencing) that will be in Mac OS X Leopard, the new Mac operating system.This is at the company's Worldwide Developers conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco on August 7, 2006. Liz Mangelsdorf /The Chronicle less

apple08_lm005.JPG
apple08_lm006.JPG
Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces new features in the iChat program (including using Photo Booth with video conferencing) that will be in Mac OS X Leopard, the new Mac ... more

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

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apple08_lm006.JPG
Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces new features in the iChat program that will be in Mac OS X Leopard, the new Mac operating system.This is at the company's Worldwide Developers conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco on August 7, 2006. Liz Mangelsdorf /The Chronicle less

apple08_lm006.JPG
Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces new features in the iChat program that will be in Mac OS X Leopard, the new Mac operating system.This is at the company's Worldwide Developers conference at ... more

Photo: Liz Mangelsdorf

Apple completes transition to Intel chips

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2006-08-07 13:59:19 PDT -- Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs announced Monday that the Cupertino technology company has finished transitioning its line of laptop and desktop computers to Intel chips in less than a year, and previewed some of the new features in its next generation operating system, Leopard.

"Leopard is going to be a grand slam," Jobs said in a keynote at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Apple, which hopes the switch to Intel chips and new operating system will help it gain market share in the global computer market, also unveiled a top-of-the-line Mac Pro desktop computer that features two ultra-fast Intel chips.

Notoriously secretive , the company said it planned to keep some of Leopard's new features close to the vest for fear they could turn up in rival Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system Vista, which is expected to launch early next year.

Two years ago, Apple poked fun at Microsoft's Vista, suggesting that the technology giant "start its photocopiers."

"It was a joke, but they took it seriously," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering as he compared, side by side, Apple's features with Microsoft's. "They even tried to copy our color scheme, but they didn't even get that right."

Leopard's new features include the ability to back up all its files automatically, and be able to go "back in time" to retrieve old copies or deleted files.

Apple's new Mac OS X also features a program to create personalized stationary in an e-mail, such as embellishing it with photographs, as well as new online chatting elements such as presenting a slide show or video at the same time. and changing the video conferencing backdrop so it appears that the user is on a sandy beach or at the Taj Mahal.

Jobs also debuted a high-end desktop machine, the Mac Pro, which uses Intel's latest chips, the Core 2 Duo. Packing two of the Intel processors, the Mac Pro is three times more powerful and two times faster than its predecessor, the Power Mac G5, and has up to 2 terabytes of storage. according to Apple.

It is also cheaper than competitor Dell's equivalent, Apple said. The new Mac Pro is listed at $2,499, not including a monitor. The suggested monitors to accompany the machine are listed between $699 and $1,999.

That customers have to pay a premium over the PC for a Mac "is a myth we are going to continue to bust," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

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